When two of The Village Voice‘s top editors quit rather than downsize staffers, it was only a matter of time before those layoffs transpired. The cuts involved three big names. According to Gawker, Michael Musto, Robert Sietsema and Michael Feingold have all been let go.

Christine Brennan, executive editor of the Village Voice Media Group, oversaw the reductions, which included some on the business side of the Voice. She was also the one asking Will Bourne, the Voice’s last editor, to fire or reduce the roles of staffers.

Musto had been writing for the Voice since the early 1980s; Sietsema since the early 90s; and Feingold since the late 90s. When a paper just fires three of their most iconic writers, you know things are bad.

The New York Times Company officially put The Boston Globe up for sale in late February, so naturally, everyone wants an update on the situation. Aside from a list of about 800 rumored buyers, there hasn’t been any word. However, Mark Thompson, the Times’ CEO, said things are going great.

The Globe reports that during an investor conference call, Thompson explained that he was “very pleased with the interest, and the progress, that’s been expressed so far.”

Okay, that’s about as vague as it gets. One nugget we did find though: Evercore Group, which is responsible for fetching bids for the Globe, has already conducted meetings with six different interested parties. Who were they? Know one knows! But apparently they were very pleasing. So please be pleased.

OJ Simpson is back in court this week and well, the man has put on a few pounds. As long as you mention this at least once today or tomorrow in a conversation, the New York Post and New York Daily News have done their jobs.

You can try a simple ”Man, OJ is huge!” Or if you’re feeling up to it, the more complex “OJ? More like ‘OK that’s enough cupcakes,’ am I right?” Either one should suffice.

Cablevision, Newsday’s parent company, is apparently cool with the paper losing millions. According to The New York Post, Cablevision’s latest earnings report showed that its “other businesses” group — which includes Newsday, MSG Varsity and News 12 — posted a combined loss of $100 million.

An analyst told the Post that Newsday is likely responsible for about $35 million of those annual losses. However, Cablevision’s execs greet those numbers with a shrug.

During the earnings call, Gregg Seibert, vice chairman and CFO of Cablevision, expressed support for the struggling paper. ”Newsday is a core asset for us,” he said. “It fits in with our cable operations and our focus on providing the best in local news coverage to our customers in conjunction with Newsday.”

Update (12:00 pm):
Keith Kelly, who wrote the Post’s report, just pointed out that I misread his piece. “$100 million for the Other Group and $35 million for Newsday itself were for the first quarter only,” Kelly explained via email. “One analyst we quoted said he thought the ANNUAL loss for Newsday by itself was $100 million last year — and growing.”

Will Bourne, the editor-in-chief of The Village Voice for only six months, has resigned. The New York Times reports that Bourne — along with deputy editor Jessica Lustig — chose to leave the paper rather than implement staff cuts:

They met with the staff at 11 p.m. on Thursday and said that Christine Brennan, executive editor of Voice Media Group, had instructed them to cut five positions from the 20-person staff. Rather than carrying out the cuts, they resigned and left immediately.

“When I was brought in here, I was explicitly told that the bloodletting had come to an end,” Bourne told the Times. “I have enormous respect for the staff here and the work they have been doing and I am not going to preside over further layoffs.”

Bourne succeeded Tony Ortega as editor of the Voice in late November. We’ve reached out to him for comment and will update when we hear back.

The New York Daily News just cut about 15 staffers, according to Capital New York. Two veterans of the paper — Albor Ruiz and Joanna Molloy — were among those let go. Ruiz had been with the Daily News for 19 years; Molloy for 15.

Other names in the bunch include Christina Boyle and Robert Gearty, both reporters for the Daily News.

The unlucky staffers were being told that the cuts were part of a “restructuring,” which is pretty much what they always say.

During a talk at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Jill Abramson showed off some fresh media slang, so try and keep up, suckas. If you’re in the media business, you better educate yourself of the following, via Capital New York:

• Snowfall (verb): To create an amazing digital feature, such as the Pulitzer-winning “Snow Fall” piece published by the New York Times last December. “Everyone wants to snowfall now, every day, all desks,” said Abramson.
• Pizza Story (noun): A complex, breaking news story that requires extensive reporting. “The pizza boxes stack up,” when such a story happens, explained Abramson.

Now we know you’re wondering if these are real slang terms or just nonsense. But trust us. If you use either and your colleague or editor questions their validity, don’t even worry about it. They need to check themselves; not you.

The Wall Street Journal has a problem. One or more staffers who appear on its video series, “WSJ Live,” is ugly and doesn’t know it. And because these people don’t realize they’re walking around with unfortunate faces, the paper’s editors were forced to send out a memo.

The note, obtained by Jim Romensko, reminds everyone that they need makeup before getting in front of the camera. The nudging was needed because apparently some at the paper don’t own irons, have issues with combs, and actively cultivate face grease:

Read more

Fortune’s annual Fortune 500 issue is once again upon us. If you enjoy massive corporations, get excited. The leader this year is Walmart, which raked in $469 billion in revenue. Not that this should surprise anyone. Since the Fortune 500 has been published — way back in 1955 — the number one company has always been either Walmart, Exxon Mobil or GM.

Exxon Mobil ($449 billion), Chevron ($233), Phillips 66 ($169) and Berkshire Hathaway ($162) round out the top five.

As far as media companies go, here’s some that made the cut:

• 66) Walt Disney – $42 billion
• 91) News Corp. – $33
• 105) Time Warner – $28
• 186) CBS – $14
• 198) Viacom – $13
• 467) Gannett – $5

According to a memo, The Wall Street Journal is searching for a staffer to cover “executives, management and corporate leadership trend.” Sounds breathtaking.

Here’s another snippet from the note, obtained by Jim Romenesko:

The reporter must have at least four years of experience, deep sources within companies and work well across bureaus. The reporter will write section-front stories packed with insightful takes on the news and frequent, lively blog items.

Don’t everyone raise their hands at once, now.